AlphaQuest LLC Has $278,000 Stake in Virtu Financial, Inc. $VIRT

AlphaQuest LLC reduced its stake in shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) by 73.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,601 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Virtu Financial were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Virtu Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Ruffer LLP purchased a new position in Virtu Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $3,665,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Virtu Financial by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 129,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,193 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 5.4% in the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 40,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Virtu Financial by 59.8% in the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 90,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,202,000 after purchasing an additional 33,762 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VIRT shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Virtu Financial from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Bank of America raised Virtu Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Virtu Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Virtu Financial from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Virtu Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Virtu Financial Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of Virtu Financial stock opened at $39.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.61. Virtu Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.55 and a 52-week high of $45.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.62.

Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $969.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $513.51 million. Virtu Financial had a net margin of 10.43% and a return on equity of 32.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Virtu Financial, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Virtu Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Virtu Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.71%.

About Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial, Inc (NASDAQ: VIRT) is a leading global electronic trading firm specializing in market making, liquidity provision and trade execution services across a broad range of asset classes. Leveraging advanced quantitative models and proprietary trading technology, Virtu provides continuous bid and ask quotes in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, commodities and digital assets. The firm’s infrastructure is designed to operate at high speeds and low latencies, enabling tight spreads and efficient price discovery for its clients.

In addition to its market-making activities, Virtu offers agency execution services, algorithmic trading strategies and transaction cost analysis tools.